The European Union gave approval on Thursday for the US oil companies Texaco and Chevron to merge to form the fourth-biggest oil group in the world.

EU competition authorities said that the merged group would not hold more than 15 percent of any market, except for the market for additives to lubricants in which Chevron already held 20-30 percent through its subsidiary Oronite.

The two groups announced in October that they intended to merge to form a group worth about $100 billion (108.7 billion euros).—AFP.